Road-rage attack on man plotted by intimate colleague's daughter: Police

A road-rage attack on a 51-year-old man in North Bengaluru last month was orchestrated by the daughter of his female colleague, with whom he had developed intimacy, police say.

A video of the daytime attack was widely shared on social media and had flummoxed the police because the victim didn’t seem to have any enemies. And the prime suspect was a rowdy whom the victim had never met or spoken to. Above all, the attack was disguised as an incident of road rage. Sanjaynagar police solved the puzzle on Saturday after hunting down the rowdy, Avinash alias Chinal Avi, near the Guddenahalli ground where he was allegedly hiding.

Police said Avinash tried to escape by attacking constable Santosh with a lethal weapon. Inspector Balaraj G fired a warning shot, asking Avinash to drop the weapon and surrender himself but he didn’t pay heed. The officer then shot him below the waist, injuring and immobilising him.

Muniraju K C, a resident of Ramamurthy Nagar, was waylaid and attacked with metal objects and cricket wickets by three men in Sanjaynagar at 12.30 pm on July 29.

An employee of a private firm in Rajajinagar, Muniraju had been taking his colleague Lakshmi and her daughter Rakshita on his scooter to a vaccination centre in JP Park at the time. Lakshmi had sought his help in getting her college-going daughter vaccinated in JP Park because the vaccination centre near her home in Hebbal had run out of doses.

Enacting road rage, the gang intercepted Muniraju, attacked and stabbed him before fleeing. Passersby recorded the incident on their phones and shared the video on social media.

In their investigation, police identified Avinash, a rowdy element, as the assailant. They later learnt that Muniraju had developed intimacy with Lakshmi and was interfering in the personal affairs of Rakshita. Lakshmi, who depended on Muniraju for herself and her daughter, supported his actions.

Rakshita was upset about it and complained about Muniraju to a male friend, who hired Avinash to attack Muniraju. Wanting to conceal Rakshita’s name from the attack, the suspects planned to enact a road-rage incident. Police said six people were involved in the attack.